Among the deported population (about 350,000 people), the largest number were Armenians.[10][11] According to various estimates, the number of expelled Armenians ranged from 250,000[6][12] to 300,000 people.[4][13][14][14] During this time Armenian cities and villages were plundered and destroyed.[15][4] Many Armenians were brutally killed, subjected to violence or died on the way, less than half survived during the march.[16][17][13][18]
The deportation changed the ethnic demographic picture of the Armenian Highlands radically, greatly decreasing the percentage of Armenian population of the region.[6] Mass deportation of Armenians made them a minority in Nakhichevan (part of the present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan), and also led to significant increase in the percentage of Muslims (Turks and Kurds) in other historical regions, including the Artsakh region (currently better known as Nagorno-Karabakh).[4][15][6][1]
Armenia on a 1740 map
For centuries, Armenia was subjected to continuous military invasions and devastating raids.[19][4] The first Arab conquests in the region began in the 40s of the 7th century.[20][21][22] Later, at the beginning of the 11th century, Oguz-Turkmen tribes from Central Asia started their raids.[23] At the same time, as a result of regular attacks by Byzantium on the one hand, and the Seljuks on the other, the Armenian Vaspurakan and Ani kingdoms were liquidated, and by the 70s of the 11th century (Battle of Manzikert), the Seljuks extended their influence to almost the entire territory of Armenia, which over time dealt a strong blow to the Armenian ethnos in the region.[24][25][26] By the 13th century, the territory of Armenia was subjected to numerous invasions of Muslim nomadic tribes.[27]
Robert de Vaugondy, 1753 map - Persian and Ottoman empires: Armenia is shown divided between them as Persian(Eastern) and Ottoman(Western) Armenia.
Already in the Seljuk era, the centuries-old process of marginalisation of the Armenian population by alien Turkic nomads in the region had begun,[28][29][30][4][31][32] which intensified especially after the invasions of Tamerlane.[33] During the period of Mongol rule, Armenia was plundered and ravaged, and starting from the end of the 13th century, Ghazan Khan subjected the Armenian population, especially from Nakhichevan and nearby territories, to harsh persecution.[4] In 1385, Tokhtamysh Khan took tens of thousands of Armenians from Artsakh, Syunik and Parskahayk into captivity.[34] The Mongol rule also intensified the demographic changes that had begun under the Seljuk rule - the Muslim population increased, while the Armenian population decreased.[35][36] Numerous nomadic tribes for a number of centuries moved in and settled in fertile areas with extensive pastures,[4] and their tribal rulers gradually appropriated the property of Armenian landowners, oppressing them. This led to the forced mass emigration of Armenians to safer places.[37]
[the city] was firstly erected and adorned as a most beautiful city of a certain great kingdom; but the Tatars turned it almost into a desert. Before, there were eight hundred Armenian churches, and now only two small ones, and the rest were destroyed by the Saracens.
In 1578, a new Turkish-Persian war (1578-1590) began. The Ottoman army and the 100,000-strong army of the Crimean Khan raided Eastern Armenia. Devastating campaigns in Transcaucasia continued until the beginning of 1590. A significant part of the local population was killed, driven into slavery or fled (60,000 people were driven into slavery from Erivan alone).[43][44]
Armenian historian of the 16th century Yovanisik Caretsi writes about these events:[44]
... a certain commander, named Lala, set out with many soldiers, reached the Ararat region and filled the Armenians and Muslims, numbering 60 thousand, and drove them forward to the land of the Romans [Eastern Roman Empire].
The Persian Shah Abbas I the Great, who did not accept defeat, wanted to return the territories ceded to the Turks in 1590.[45] He began to reform his army, trained it in the European manner by English experts, and in 1603 started a new war with the Ottoman Empire.[46]
Shah Abbas I the Great
In 1603-1605, the Shah's troops, having defeated the Turks at Sufiyan, captured and once again plundered the cities of Nakhichevan, Tabriz, Julfa and Erivan.[46] Most of the residents of Erivan were forcibly relocated.[47] Since the summer of 1604, the territory of Eastern Armenia was systematically subjected to devastating raids.[48][49] With regard to the regions of the Ararat Valley bordering the Ottoman Empire, the Shah resorted to the tactics of "scorched earth",[50] the essence of which was the forcible resettlement (devastation of the territory[51]) of all local residents deep into the territory of Persia, along with all their property.[52][53]
The Shah pursued the goal of depopulating these areas and settling the Armenian population throughout Persia, thereby wishing, on the one hand, to secure his western borders from a potential Ottoman-Armenian conspiracy, and on the other hand, he was guided by the desire to use Armenian artisans and merchants for his commercial purposes.[54]
At the first stage, by the order of the Shah, the gathering of the Armenian population (from Nakhichevan, Julfa, Syunik, Sevan, Lori, Abaran, Shirakavan, Kars, Van, Alashkert and Bayazet)[48][14] was organized in specially designated places. The Armenians were loyal subjects of their shah and carried out his orders, and having learned about his intentions, they pleaded with him in every possible way to postpone their move because of the imminent onset of winter. However, their requests were ignored by the Shah.[48]
This was followed by destruction of all the remaining property of the Armenian population, so that it could not be taken by the Ottoman troops.[48] Thousands of people perished while crossing the Araks river alone.[48]
Shah Abbas did not heed to the pleas of the Armenians. He summoned his nakharars and from among them appointed overseers and guides for the inhabitants of the country, so that each prince with his army would evict and expel the population of one gavar[province]. [The population] of the city of Erivan itself, the Ararat region and individual nearby gavars [was entrusted] to Amirgun Khan.
…
But with the approach of autumn, the Turkish commander ... gathered a large army and launched a fierce attack on King Abbas in the province of Ararat (gavar). When he (Abbas) saw that he could not resist him in battle, he fled from one place to another, and set the country on fire so that there would be no shelter for the Turkish troops, no food, nor food for their cattle. He also ordered his wicked troops to drive the Armenian people to Persia.
…
With fierce blows and with furious haste, they began to devastate from the inhabitants the entire region between the provinces of Shirakuan [Shirakavan] and Kars and the province of Goghtn. On winter days, they dragged vardapets and bishops, priests and parishioners, nobles and commoners from their cloisters and dwellings in villages, cities, monasteries and sketes and drove them at full speed in front of their horses, brandishing their swords, hurrying them, for the enemy, the Turkish army stepped on their heels. Woe and woe to this disaster! Oh suffering, poverty and bitterness! For when people were driven out of their houses, they burned the houses with all their possessions, and the owners, looking back, saw the flames rise up. Then they wept, uttering piercing cries, wailing loudly and throwing dust on their heads. It was not possible to find help, because the Shah's decree was adamant. Then, along the way, they (soldiers) killed some and maimed others, took babies from their mothers' hands and threw them against stones, so that [women] would be easier on the march.
According to Davrizhetsi, the deportation began in August 1604 and culminated in the autumn. The number of the expelled population covered the territory from the mountains of Garni to the mouth of the Araks.[57]
View of the modern Armenian quarter of New Jugha in Isfahan
Until the 17th century, despite wars, invasions and migrations, Armenians still made up the majority of the population of Eastern Armenia. A significant blow to the Armenian ethnos of the region was caused by its mass resettlement deep into the territory of Persia.[58]
After a brilliant anti-Ottoman campaign of 1603-5, Shah Abbas regained control over the provinces of Yerevan and Nakhichevan, which were the main settlements of the Eastern Armenians. As a result, the main center of Armenian religious and cultural life, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, was once again within the borders of the Safavid Empire. Feeling that his hold on the newly conquered territories was still precarious, Abbas implemented a scorched-earth policy and undertook the massive and forcible resettlement of the local population, mainly Armenians, to central Iran.
Cathedral of the Holy Christ the Savior, XVII century in Isfahan
The number of Armenians resettled from Eastern Armenia to Persia is estimated, according to various sources, from 250 thousand[6][60][12] to 300 thousand people.[4][13][7] According to the Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia, “in 1604, the troops of Shah Abbas captured Er. and forcibly took the majority of the Armenian population to Iran".[61] During the deportation, in particular, to get rid of the competition of Armenian merchants, a large center of merchants in the Transcaucasus[14][62] was ruined - the Armenian city of Dzhuga[63][64][49] (now Julfa, NAR), and its inhabitants (according to various estimates, from 20 thousand people[64] to 12 thousand families[65]) were resettled in Isfahan , where in 1605 they formed “New Julfa”[66][67][68][69][24][70][14][71] (in memory of the once prosperous Armenian city[72]) on the land allocated to them south of the Zayanderud River, the other part of the resettled scattered throughout Persia. About 500 Armenian families were forced to move to Shiraz alone.[73] At the same time, the emigration of Armenians to the countries of Southeast Asia, in particular, India and Burma, increased.[74] Later, in the mid-1650s, the Armenians were expelled also from regions of Isfahan, leaving them in compact residence only in New Julfa.[75] Armenian communities also appeared in the cities of Mazandaran, Qazvin, Hamadan, Mashhad, Shiraz and others.[14]
Armenian Quarter, Isfahan
Initially, Abbas's attitude towards the resettled Armenians was supportive.[72] In the Isfahan region, Armenian settlers were granted freedom of religion and trade.[72] The area gradually developed and flourished.[72][51] Armenians were able to create a major center of international trade, including with the Russian state, Europe and India.[76][66][77][78] They got a monopoly on the silk trade.[79][80][51] However, later, pursuing a policy of forced Islamization, the Shah began to force the Armenian population to accept Islam.[72] Those Armenians who had settled in other parts of the empire were often subjected to various forms of discrimination.[79]
After the deportation of Armenians, nomadic tribes (mainly Turks, as well as Kurds)[81] began to massively populate the territories they had left behind, while cities of Ararat, Alashkert and Bayazet became completely empty.[82][83]
According to Encyclopedia Iranica: “In the course of its history of many centuries, the Armenian people had not yet been subjected to such a major disaster”.[4] American historian George Bournoutian notes that by the 17th century, Armenians had become a minority in some parts of their historical lands.[84] The American historian Richard Hovannisian points out that the forced deportation carried out by Shah Abbas and other forced mass migrations of the Armenian people led to the fact that by the 19th century Armenians retained a significant majority only in the mountainous regions of Karabakh and Zangezur. As for the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates, the number of Armenians in them decreased to 20% by the beginning of the 1830s.[85][86] Armenians also became a minority in Ganja.[87]
The event was reflected in the Armenian "vokhber" (Armenian: ողբեր) literary genre - medieval Armenian historical lamentations.[88]
In his poem "The Shah and the Peddler", the Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan tells the story against the backdrop of the deportation.[89]
Deportation of the Armenian population of Nakhichevan (hy)
Shakeri 1998, p.38, "In pursuit of these objectives, in 1604 Shah Abbas ordered the move of Armenians and other populations from the valley of Ararat to Persia. According to Davrizhetsi «all the inhabitants of Armenia be they Christian, Jewish, or Muslim» were ordered to move out of their homes and to adapt themselves to new homeland in Persia proper".
Bournoutian 1997, p.96, By the end of the eighteenth century, the Armenian population of the territory had shrunk considerably. Centuries of warfare and invasions combined with the tyranny of local khans had forced the emigration of the Armenians. It is probable the until the seventeenth century, the Armenians still maintained a majority in Eastern Armenia, but the forced relocation of some 250,000 Armenians by Shah Abbas and the numerous exoduses described in this chapter had reduced the Armenian population considerably..
Bournoutian 2003, p.208, In the summer of 1604, at the news of an Ottoman counteroffensive, 'Abbas laid waste much of the territory between Kars and Ani and deported its Armenians and Muslims into Iranian Azerbaijan. … According to primary sources, some 250,000 to 300,000 Armemians were removed from the region between 1604 and 1605, Thousands died crossing the Arax River. Many of the Armenians were eventually settled in Iranian Azerbaijan, where other Armenians had settled carlier. Some ended up in the Mazandaran region and in the cities of Sultanich, Qazvin, Mashhad, Hamadan and Shiraz. The wealthy Armenians of Julfa were brought to the Safavid capital of Isfahan..
Bournoutian 2021, p.237, Hearing that the Ottomans had sent a large force against him, the Shah forcibly removed the population of numerous Armenian villages in Nakhjavan and Yerevan across the Aras River into the interior.
Bournoutian 2016, p.12, In 1604, during the Irano-Ottoman war, Shah `Abbas not only forcibly deported the Armenians of Julfa to Iran, but also ordered a large part of the population of Yerevan and Nakhichevan to be moved south of the Aras (Arax) River and settled in Azarbayjan. […] In addition, the above centuries of conflict, voluntary and forced emigration had reduced the Armenian population of Nakhichevan to a mere minority..
Рыбаков, Белявский и др. 1983, pp.274, Following the brilliant anti-Ottoman campaign of 1603-5, Shah ʿAbbās resumed control over the provinces of Yerevan and Nakhchivan, which constituted the core settlement of Eastern Armenians. As a result, the major centre of Armenian religious and cultural life, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, again fell within the borders of the Safavid Empire. Yet, feeling that his grasp over the newly conquered territories was still insecure, ʿAbbās applied a scorched earth policy and undertook massive forced resettlements of the local population, especially Armenians, into central Iran. In 1604, the large Armenian community of the city of Julfa on the River Araxes was forcibly resettled to Isfahan….
Рыбаков, Белявский и др. 1983, p.274, В 1604 г. на Армению обрушилось очередное несчастье: отступая в Иран, Аббас I угнал около 350 тыс. населения, главным образом армянского..
Bournoutian 1994, p.44, Armenians were uprooted during these wars, and, in 1604, some 250,000 Armenians were forcibly transferred by Shah 'Abbas to Iran. By the seventeents century, the Armenian had become a minority in parts of their historic lands.
Price 2005, p.71, Primary sources estimate that between 1604 and 1605 some 250,000 to 300,000 Armenians were removed from Armenia for settlement in Iran. Thousands died during the harsh forced move..
von Haxthausen 1854, p.252, Since the eighteenth century this fine country has lain in a state of decay, a circumstance in part attributable perhaps to the present mixed state of the inhabitants who have succeeded the Armenians that were carried away prisoners. The Tatars and Koords, who have been brought hither and settled, now form half the population..
Рыбаков, Алаев, Ашфарян и др. 2000, p.113, Множество людей погибло, детей и женщин обращали в рабство, уцелевших селили во внутренних районах Ирана. Масса людей, однако, бежала в горы и труднодоступные места.
von Haxthausen 1854, pp.249, 251, 249:… the country through which passed all the armies of the East, and in which more battles were fought and more blood flowed than in any other. Here ne- vertheless were always opulent towns, destroyed per- haps one day, but rebuilt the next; whilst the whole country uniformly wore a flourishing aspect. 251: Armenia has suffered innumerable devastations by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, and Turks..
Новосельцев, Пашуто, Черепнин 1972, pp.46–47, А затем началось сельджукское нашествие. Оно нанесло первый катастрофический удар по армянскому этносу. Часть Васпуракана, Гохтн, и, наконец, Сюник стали объектом захвата сельджуков в первую очередь.
Stokes 2009, p.54, The Seljuk period in Armenian history brought substantial ethnic changes. There was a renewed wave of conversion to Islam among Armenians and a significant degree of immigration into Armenian by Turkic peoples..
Новосельцев, Пашуто, Черепнин 1972, pp.46–47, А затем началось сельджукское нашествие. Оно нанесло первый катастрофический удар по армянскому этносу. Часть Васпуракана, Гохтн, и, наконец, Сюник стали объектом захвата сельджуков в первую очередь..
Bournoutian 1994, p.43, The Seljuk Turkish invasion differed in one significant respect from all other previous invasions of Armenia: The Turkish nomads remained in Armenia, settling on the land and in the mountains..
Stokes 2009, p.54, The Seljuk period in Armenian history brought substan- tial ethnic changes. There was a renewed wave of conversion to Islam among Armenians and a significant degree ofimmigration into Armenian by Turkic peoples..
Новосельцев, Пашуто, Черепнин 1972, p.46—47, А затем началось сельджукское нашествие. Оно нанесло первый катастрофический удар по армянскому этносу. Часть Васпуракана, Гохтн, и, наконец, Сюник стали объектом захвата сельджуков в первую очередь..
Рыбаков, Алаев, Ашфарян и др. 2002, В описаниях современников сельджукское нашествие предстаёт как бедствие для стран Закавказья. Сельджуки быстрее всего утвердились в южных армянских землях, откуда армянское население вынуждено было эмигрировать в пределы Византии. Так возникло Киликийское Армянское царство, просуществовавшее до конца XIV века На Армянском нагорье начался многовековой процесс оттеснения армянского и курдского населения пришлым тюркским.
Payaslian 2008, p.105, Meanwhile, Armenia became a battleground between the Ottomans and the emerging Safavid empire (1502–1783) in Iran, as they struggled for regional supremacy, and their constant campaigns and countercampaigns led to westward migration by Armenians.
Kołodziejczyk 2017, p.24, Following the brilliant anti-Ottoman campaign of 1603-5, Shah ʿAbbās resumed control over the provinces of Yerevan and Nakhchivan, which constituted the core settlement of Eastern Armenians. As a result, the major centre of Armenian religious and cultural life, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, again fell within the borders of the Safavid Empire. Yet, feeling that his grasp over the newly conquered territories was still insecure, ʿAbbās applied a scorched earth policy and undertook massive forced resettlements of the local population, especially Armenians, into central Iran..
Аракел Даврижеци 1978, Только что сменился год и наступил 1054 год армянского летосчисления (1605), был первый армянский месяц навасард,* когда изгнали /41/ жителей страны. И персидские войска, посланные выселять народ, подняв, изгоняли его из деревень и городов, предавали огню и безжалостно сжигали все поселения, дома и обиталища. А также заготовленные впрок сено и солома, пшеница и ячмень и другие припасы – всё было уничтожено и предано огню. Так персы разорили и опустошили страну из-за османских войск, дабы не осталось ничего для прокормления их и они оказались бы в опасности. А также чтобы у изгнанного населения при виде этого дрогнуло бы сердце и оно не вернулось бы обратно. И пока персидские войска, назначенные сопровождать народ, выселяли и сгоняли его на Эчмиадзинское поле, а шах Аббас находился в Агджакале, османский сардар Джгал-оглы со своим войском добрался до Карса. Шах Аббас знал, что в [открытом] бою не сможет задержать османов, и, испугавшись многочисленности их, повернул и пошёл со всем войском своим за ратью народной к Персии..
Moreen 1981, pp.128–129, In order to secure his peripheral western frontiers from possible Armenian-Ottoman collusions, Shah 'Abbās found it expedient in 1604-5 to depopulate those areas and distribute the Armenian population throughout Iran..
Kennedy & Brice 1981, After his successful campaigns against the Ottoman Turks, Shah 'Abbas I resolved to depopulate eastern Armenia and to create an empty tract between himself and his enemy.
Петрушевский 1949, p.93, Армянский торговый городок Джульфа (Джуга, Джулах) на р. Араксе, бывший во второй половине XVI века, несмотря на свои небольшие размеры (15-20 тысяч жителей), складочным местом и крупной биржей европейско-азиатской торговли шёлком (местные крупные армянские коммерсанты вели торговлю с Шемахой, Гиляном, Тебризом, Алеппо, Венецией, Марселью, Амстердамом и т. д.), также получил льготу освобождения от податей и был причислен к собственным доменам шаха — «хасс»..
Kouymjian 1997, p.25, Julfa became more important in the second half of the sixteenth century, only to be destroyed at the end of the century by Shah Abbas […] Arakel of Tabriz says, however, that in 1604—1605, 20,000 Armenians from Julfa were deported to Persia — with one-fifth surviving in New Julfa.
Seth 1897, A large Armenian colony of 12000 families from Julfa on the Araxes, in Armenia settled there in 1605, during the glorious reign of Shah Abbas the Great.
Kouymjian 1997, p.20, 25, Julfa became more important in the second half of the sixteenth century, only to be destroyed at the end of the century by Shah Abbas […] Arakel of Tabriz says, however, that in 1604—1605, 20,000 Armenians from Julfa were deported to Persia — with one-fifth surviving in New Julfa.
Braudel 1992, p.159, The new Julfa, to which Abbas the Great deported the Armenians between 1603 and 1605, became the centre of Armenian activity throughout the world.
Смирин 1958, p.563, Чтобы избавиться от соперничества армянского купечества, шах разорил центр армянской торговой деятельности в Закавказье — город Джугу и переселил армянское население в Исфахан, в пригород, названный Новой Джугой.
Kołodziejczyk 2017, pp.24–25, In 1654-7, for instance, Armenians were driven from various quarters of Isfahan and forced to limit their settlement to the New Julfa..
Kouymjian 1997, p.21, Armenia had been ruined by more than a hundred years of attacks and counterattacks. Foreign travelers testify that Ararat, Alashkert, Bayazit, and the plain of Nakhichevan were deserted. Nomadic Kurds and Turkmens moved into many of the ravished or abandoned areas..
Bournoutian 1999, All documents relating to the Armenian immigration make it clear that Russia, for political, military, and economic reasons, strongly encouraged the Armenians to settle in the newly-established Armenian province, especially the region of Erevan, which between 1795 and 1827 had lost some 20,000 Armenians who had immigrated to Georgia..
Bournoutian 1997, p.96, By the end of the eighteenth century, the Armenian population of the territory had shrunk considerably. Centuries of warfare and invasions combined with the tyranny of local khans had forced the emigration of the Armenians. It is probable that until the seventeenth century, the Armenian still maintained a majority in Eastern Armenia, but the forced relocation of some 250,000 Armenian by Shah Abbas and the numerous exoduses described in this chapter had reduced the Armenian population considerably. The census conducted by the Russians in 1830-1831 indicates that by the nineteenth century Armenians of Erevan and Nakhichevan formed 20 percent of population. The Armenians of Ganja had also been reduced to a minority. Only in the mountains regions of Karabakh and Zangezur did the Armenian manage to maintain a solid majority.
Cowe S. P. (1997). "Medieval Armenian Literary and Cultural Trends (Twelfth-Seventeenth Centuries)". In Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.). The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. Vol.I. St. Martin’s Press. p.313.
Рыбаков, Алаев, Ашфарян и др., Р.Б., Л.Б., К.З. (2002). История Востока. В 6 т.(PDF). Vol.3. Восток на рубеже средневековья и нового времени XVI-XVIII вв. М.: Восточная литература РАН. ISBN5-02-017913-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
